NEED OF THE DAY – A LOVING FRIEND

What do you do while recovering from an infection in your leg and your doctor and wife demand you to sit with your leg resting higher than your heart?  One thing is to sort through things that need to be read and filed or discarded.

Someone had recently left a couple of our old “Faith Forum” newsletters from 1997.  In it was a story or more a testimony by Wendy Brousseau. In Wendy’s words, “ In late November, upon an invitation from a loving friend, I ventured to Faith Baptist Church for a special Thanksgiving Eve service.  Little did I know that the door to Jesus Christ would be opened unto me that night.  During the days that followed, my mind was flooded with questions that had to be answered- I was on a pursuit, full steam ahead in the quest for truth! . …. As the days grew closer to Christmas, I could sense a significant change in my heart and life. Jesus, our eternal Savior was becoming a reality in my mind.  Christmas arrived. No longer could I deny the presence of God working in my life. It was time to make an important decision.”

Wendy did believe and has grown in her faith over the years.  Why do I mention this no so little incident? Wendy is one of a number of people God has called to himself using members of “Faith Baptist” as a means of bringing them under the sound of the Gospel.  In Wendy’s situation, it was a Thanksgiving service, but even more important, it was the loving care of her neighbor who had invited her.  Much more important than the service was what she called her “loving friend”.

Evangelistic pursuits have come in so many ways over the years. Tent revivals, open air meetings, even Sunday Evening service began and was called the Evangelistic Service. We have witnessed men’s and women’s movements come and go and even had our “friend days” along with evangelistic small groups. God has and does use these things but the one common thread that is at the heart of all evangelism is a God who calls and a faithful people who love their family, their neighbor and their fellow worker. What is most needed is a loving friend.

Will you join me in prayer for great boldness in our love for the lost, a greater love for friends, a deep affection for fellow workers and family in need of our Savior?  Will you pray the Lord of the harvest to send loving laborers into the harvest field with a passion to proclaim the Gospel of our Savior and King?

The one thing this world needs and the church must provide are loving friends whose love for Christ is the source and foundation of their love for a lost world.